Meeting Mackenzie
by White-Chrono-Ranger
Summary: What happens between a nurse and a doctor when they find out that they share a common bond with a patient? {Dave/Abby}


Disclaimer: I don't own them, kinda wished I did sometimes that is. They are owned by Michael Crichton, NBC, and the actors who portray them. I own only Mackenzie Wyzenski-McDaniel. It mentioned on the show before he left, that Dave has a son, so I brought him in as well. I don't know what the little boys name was supposed to be, so I named him Dave Jr aka DJ.  
Author's Notes: I decided to try my hand at ER fanfic. Mackenzie is my attempt at it. She's Abby's long-lost little sister and close friends with Dave Malucci and his son, DJ. This is as if Abby never hooked up with Luka. I'm gonna try and work in a little Dave/Abby romance. This is kinda told in Mackenzie's POV for some of the story, otherwise it follows Dave and Abby around.  
  
Meeting Mackenzie  
by: Ashley  
  
I was walking down the hallway of Cook County General. I had been admitted three days ago for being in an automobile accident. Actually I, along with a couple of other teenagers, was hit by the car. Oh, I guess I should tell you who I am. My name is Mackenzie Wyzenski-McDaniel, but you can call me Mac. That's right, I'm related to Maggie Wyzenski and Abby Lockhart. Abby's my older sister and we're pretty close, or we used to be. Hopefully we will be again. After one of Maggie's spells, Abby left and I got sent to an orphanage. I was only three at the time. When we first met, I didn't realize that Abby was my sister and she didn't know that I was hers. We found out though two days ago about how we were related. I now know who I really am, but at the time of the accident I didn't. Abby called Maggie and Maggie came straight here. She knew before either of us could tell her, that I was the baby that she'd been forced to give up.  
What's cool about Abby so far is that she realized almost immediately how much I detested the gown they tried to make me wear. She went and found me a pair of scrub bottoms and gave me one of her T-shirts. Man, I never realized having an older sister could be so cool. She's also looking out for me. She's spent every minute that she's not working in my room with me, made sure that I was comfortable, and even helped sneak Maggie in twice after visiting hours.  
Anyways I guess I should tell you what had happened. It started out kind of like an ordinary day. My parents were out of town and I had nothing to do. I had been called by Dr. Dave Malucci to baby-sit his five year old son, DJ, while he went to work. Dr. Malucci works at Cook County General Hospital. I had been at his place all day long, playing with DJ. When Dr. Malucci came back, he paid me, and I left. I was walking back home when it happened. Some guy careened off the road and hit me and a couple of other people. Dr. Malucci must have heard it from his place, because he and DJ were outside waiting with me for the ambulances. I wasn't hurt all that bad or so I thought, so I started to help him with the other people. I really didn't want to have to ride in the ambulance, but Dr. Malucci made me. Luckily, he promised that he'd ride with me.   
"What about DJ?" I asked as the paramedics strapped me onto the stretcher.  
"Hey, you got room for my kid up front?" Malucci asked the driver as I was loaded into the back of the ambulance. "I can't leave him here by himself he's only five."  
"Yeah." the driver replied. One of the other paramedics took DJ up to the front while Dr. Malucci climbed in the back with me.  
  
* * *  
  
"Dave, what are you doing back here?" Abby Lockhart asks as Dave Malucci climbs out of the ambulance in the ambulance bay. "You left like half an hour ago." She shivers from the cold, but helps to pull the stretcher out of the back of the rig.  
"My baby-sitter had just left, then some guy ran off the road. He plowed into her and some other teenagers. Come on let's get inside before we all freeze out here." Malucci responds. He then turns to DJ, as he climbs out of the front seat. They begin to walk past the Lounge, when Dave stops the group. He turns to DJ, "Hey buddy, can you stay in here until I come and get you?" DJ nods his reply as he walks into the Lounge. The small group continues on their way to Trauma 2.  
"What've we got, Abby?" Dr. Kerry Weaver asks as she walks into the trauma room. She notices Dave but doesn't say anything for the moment.  
"Female, nineteen years old, hit by a speeding vehicle one block from my place." Malucci replies for Abby.  
Still without saying a word to Dave, Dr. Weaver says, "Okay let's do this one by the books. Abby, start an IV drip." She turns to the patient, "What's your name, sweetie?"  
"Mackenzie. Mackenzie McDaniel." the blonde haired girl replied, she then groaned in pain.  
"Okay, Mackenzie. You don't have any deep cuts, but your knee is going to need to be x-rayed. Nurse Lockhart and Dr. Malucci will take good care of you. Is there anyone I can call for you?" Dr. Weaver asks.  
"No thanks. My parents are out of town." the girl replies. "When can I get out of here?"  
Dave finishes taking the x-rays. He then begins to look them over. "Not for a few days, Mac. Observation and all, we want to make sure you don't reinjure your knee, keep the stitches clean, stuff like that." Malucci tells her with a smile as he injects some pain medication into her IV.  
Weaver looks over the x-rays. "He's right. Your knee is going to have to be relocated. Is there someone who you can stay with until your parents get back into town?" Dr. Weaver asks.  
"Um . . . no. I've been staying by myself at home. And I don't know where my other relatives are as I said before. I know I have an older sister here in Chicago, I don't know her name though." Mac tells her.  
"She can stay with me, Chief." Malucci pipes in.  
"Alright. But Mackenzie call your parents the first chance you get, hopefully as soon as you get out of the hospital." and with that Weaver walks out of Trauma 2.  
"Okay, let's get you patched up, Mackenzie. First how about we relocate that knee, then we'll see about those stitches." Abby says. She gets ready to help Dave relocate Mac's knee.  
"Call me Mac. Everyone else does." Mac says.  
"Mac, brace yourself. This might hurt a little. I gave you a pain reliever, but it won't kick in for a couple more minutes." Dave tells her. Mac prepares herself, then a scream and a loud popping sound is heard coming from the room. "Better?" he asks.  
"Yep. Just don't ever do that again." Mac says, forcing a smile. Abby begins to put a splint on Mac's newly relocated knee.  
"Abby, can you handle the sutures? I need to go and check on DJ." Dave asks as he turns to Abby. She nods, and Dave turns back to Mac. "I'll be right back. You're in good hands here. DJ was really scared for you, if you want I'll bring him back here with me?" Mac nods and Dave walks out and goes to the Lounge.  
"So how do you know Dave?" Abby asks.  
"I occasionally baby-sit his little boy for him so he can go to work." Mac tells her.  
"Oh. What'd you mean earlier when you told Weaver you had an older sister, but you didn't know her name?" Abby says. "I'm not trying to pry, you know just trying to help pass the time until Dave and his little boy get back. You don't have to answer if you don't want to."  
"It's okay. I was sent to an orphanage when I was about three. You see my biological mom has this disease and well my sister left. I guess she just couldn't take it anymore. The state came and took me, cause my sister was really the one who took care of me. They put me in the orphanage and then the McDaniels adopted me. All I've been able to find out is that my sister moved to Chicago and works in one of the hospitals in this area." Mac says. "I'm kinda tired now." A small yawn escapes.  
"That's the medicine Dave gave you earlier kicking in. It'll help with the pain and help you get some sleep. Dave and DJ will be here when you wake up. We're working on moving you into a room now." Abby says. Just as Mac closes her eyes and begins to drift off, Dave walks in the room holding a sleeping DJ. Abby puts a finger to her lips and motions Dave to the other side of the room. "She just fell asleep. Let her rest for a couple of hours, by then she'll be in her own room."  
"Alright. Little fella fell asleep too. I didn't wanna wake him, though." Dave says.  
"Come on you, we'll take him back to the Lounge. Get some coffee in the both of us while we're at it. Looks like you'll be here all night." Abby says with a smile. The two head out of Trauma 2 and begin going to the Lounge. Abby looks over at DJ as the enter the Lounge and smiles. "Poor little fella was really wiped out, huh?" She walks over to the couch and pulls off her pink nurses jacket. Before Dave can lay DJ back down, Abby places her jacket under his head. She then goes over and pours two cups of coffee.  
"Thanks, how much longer you on anyways?" Dave asks as he accepts the coffee cup Abby passes to him.  
"Weaver's got me pulling a double. I won't be off until two tomorrow afternoon. Aren't you supposed to be back here at six tonight?" she asks back.  
"Yep. I'll stay though for Mac. I can just call my neighbor and ask her to watch DJ for me." Dave replies as he looks over his shoulder at his sleeping son. Abby smiles as she watches Dave. Just then Carter and Jing-Mei walk into the Lounge. They are laughing rather loudly at some joke Carter had said out in the hall.  
"Guys, can you keep it down?" Abby asks in a whisper as she points over to the couch.  
Carter and Jing-Mei turn and look down on the couch. "Who's this little guy?" Jing-Mei asks as she kneels down next to the couch.  
"My son, DJ. One of my patients is his favorite baby-sitter and we brought her in, she was in an accident earlier this afternoon." Dave tells them. "He fell asleep not too ago, please don't wake him up. It'll be hell just to get him back to sleep."  
"Sorry, we didn't realize there was a little one in here. We just came to get our things. We'll see you two later." Carter says. He begins to pull on his jacket.  
"Dave, aren't you do back here at six?" Jing-Mei asks. Dave nods as he sips on his coffee. "Who's going to take care of DJ for you?" she asks.  
"I'm going to call one of my neighbors and see if she can watch him for me." Dave replies.  
"Why don't you let me take him for a couple of hours? That way he won't have to sleep on that uncomfortable couch. If he doesn't wanna stay with me for the rest of your shift, I'll call you and you can call your neighbor then." Jing-Mei suggests.  
"Or Jing-Mei and I can both watch him at my gamma's house. There's lots of room to run around in and all sorts of things he can do." Carter suggests.  
"I don't know, guys. I mean I trust you and all, it's just that DJ doesn't really know ya'll that well." Dave says.  
"Dave, he'll be fine. If they have any problems, I'm sure they'll call." Abby says reassurringly. Carter nods.  
"Alright. He'll be hungry for a snack when he wakes up." Dave says. "Carter, here's the keys to my place. You might want to get him some clothes to change into." he tosses his keys to Carter.  
"Sure man. I'll run your keys back by here later." Carter says as he bends down to pick up the sleeping boy. He and Jing-Mei walk out.   
"Time for you to get a little bit of sleep, Dr. Malucci." Abby says as she stands up and stretches some.  
"You too, Nurse Lockhart." Dave says, standing also. He reaches over and takes the coffee cup from her hand. After sitting both coffee cups down, he reaches out for her hand. "I do believe that there are two beds in Exam 4, which last I heard was empty. So come on, if they need either one of us we'll be easy to find. Plus we both have our pagers on." he points down at the small black box shape attached to her pink scrub pants.   
"Fine, Dave. But if there aren't two beds in there you can either sleep on the floor or find your own bed." she takes his hand and begins to follow him. As they walk into Exam 4 and find only one bed, "As I said, you'll have to find your own bed or take the floor."  
"Darn. And here I thought you might be willing to share. Besides Weaver might force both of us to work without a little bit of sleep, if we don't both stay in here and sleep. That floor looks pretty uncomfortable, and . . ." Dave began slipping down on the bed and laid down. "and I'm already somewhat comfortable."  
"Ah, Dave. I am so tired and I need some sleep. Remember I'm the one pulling a double." Abby replies with a yawn.   
"And I'm the one due back on in about two hours." he reminds her.  
"Fine, scoot over. You better be prepared to share this bed and keep your hands to yourself. And if Weaver walks in here, it was all your idea and it's all your fault." she slides down and lays on the small bed with her back to Dave. Dave's arm comes down over her waist. "I said keep your hands to yourself, Malucci."  
"Do you want to sleep comfortably or not? I really didn't want to put my arm around you or anything, Abby. I just can't sleep with my hands by my side. Sorry." Dave says. He starts to remove his arm, when Abby's hand stops him.  
"Just go to sleep, Dave. We'll talk about it later. When we're both fully awake and not busy." Abby mumbles as she drifts off. Dave doesn't say anything, just smiles as he watches Abby fall asleep. He soon falls asleep himself.  
  
TBC 


End file.
